The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has been hailed for taking the lead in promoting women and girls rights in Uganda.
Speaking during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter Parliamentary Union, Chairperson Ms. Mensah Williams of Namibia paid glowing tribute to the Ugandan legislature.
Addressing the same meeting, Betty Amongi the Member of Parliament for Oyam South, pointed to the success of the first ever Women’s Parliament held in Kampala in July this year 2015 under the theme Women’s participation and empowerment: Addressing challenges of Convention of Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) implementation.
“It brought women from the grassroots together with male Parliamentarians, the donor community and had all the UN representatives in Uganda attending,” Amongi said.
The Women’s Parliament culminated in the launching of the “Call for Action” hand in hand with the “He for She” campaign.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga highlighted that these successes were not without their challenges: “I must express my frustration with the Executive back home,” she said, while explaining about the presentation of the Report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Parliament of Uganda, “Imagine, all five Ministers concerned went missing at the time of tabling the report. “
Lesotho Speaker Motsamai expressed similar challenges while also warning of “constitutional inhibitions” caused by the high turnover of MP’s during elections and the imminent risk of “losing the institutional memory and momentum.”
Meanwhile the IPU Secretariat pledged to continue inducting new members into the ideals of advancement of gender equality.
Story By Samuel Sabuliba
